Divine Wrath In Paul

Divine wrath is considered politically incorrect for a God of love, but Stevens insists coming to terms with Paul’s language of wrath is imperative for understanding Paul’s gospel. Half of the occurrences of the two primary terms in the New Testament are in Paul. A survey focusing on the key terms for wrath in Greek, Roman, Hebrew, Samaritan, and New Testament literature provides background to see Pauline distinctives. Rich illustrations bring discussion to life drawn from decades of the author’s research overseas. Stevens challenges Dodd’s divine wrath as no more than an impersonal nexus of sin and retribution by integrating wrath into a theology of grace through which God always and in everything is seeking to save.

Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States, there was prolific misuse and abuse of the concept of divine wrath in church pulpits. In pursuit of a faithful understanding of what he calls a «lost doctrine,» the author of this study investigates the substantial history of how «the wrath of God» has been interpreted in Christian theology and preaching. Starting with the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures and moving historically through Christianity's most important theologians and societal changes, several models of divine wrath are identified. The author argues for the reclamation of a theological paradigm of divine wrath that approaches God's love and God's wrath as intrinsically enjoined in a dynamic tension. Without such a commitment to this paradigm, this important biblical aspect of God is in danger of suffering two possible outcomes. Firstly, it may suffer rejection, through conscious avoidance of the narrow misinterpretations of divine wrath that dominate contemporary theology and preaching. Secondly, irresponsible applications of divine wrath may occur when we neglect to engage and understand the wrath of God as inseparable from God's justice and love in Christian theology and proclamation.

Judgment and the wrath of God are prominent themes in Matthew’s Gospel. Because judgment is announced not only on the hypocritical but also on those who reject God’s messengers—and because this rejection is implicitly connected with the destruction of Jerusalem—the Gospel has often been read in terms of God’s rejection of Israel, with catastrophic results. Anders Runesson sets out to show, through careful study of Matthew’s composition and comparison with contemporary Jewish literature, that the theme of divine judgment plays very different and distinct roles regarding diverse groups of Jews (including Jesus’ disciples) and non-Jews in this Gospel. Runesson examines various assumptions regarding the criteria of judgment in each case and finds that Matthew does not support some of the most popular slogans in Christian theology. The results and implications for our historical understanding of Christian origins and our theological estimation of Matthew’s place in that story will be of vital interest to scholars and students for years to come.

New Testament Texts and the Roman World encapsulates the rich teaching and ministry career of Dr. Gerald Stevens. This Festschrift serves to celebrate this career and Stevens’s contributions to the academic guild. The essays in this work resonate with the interests of Stevens—studies in the text of Acts, in Pauline texts, and in John’s Apocalypse. Contributors present studies using intertextuality, social-scientific approaches, theological approaches, literary studies in Roman, Jewish, and mythological texts, and consideration of the cultural and historical settings of the texts.

Presents a thoughtful, masterly, well-organized investigation of Divine Providence as seen by the authors of the New Testament. Advances the claim that the NT authors do not support Augustine¿s highly influential predestinary view of Providence.

How can a loving God also be a God of wrath? God's wrath stands out in the minds of many as the single most puzzling aspect of God's character. Often Christians who would like to reconcile divine love with divine wrath—while remaining faithful to the Bible—can't figure out how to do so. Kevin Kinghorn and Stephen Travis offer a way forward. Using a philosophically informed line of argument and a careful study of the relevant biblical texts, Kinghorn and Travis show how these two aspects of God's character can be reconciled. Often God's wrath is viewed as an expression of holiness or justice, with the implicit assumption that God's just response to people is incompatible with a loving response. The authors instead view God's love as a strictly essential divine attribute, with justice as a derivative of love. But What About God's Wrath? will appeal to Christians eager to engage this puzzle more deeply, more philosophically, and more biblically, beyond pat answers and devotional platitudes.

A study of the Book of Revelation suggested to Dr. Hanson the idea of tracing the conception of the wrath of God through the Bible, from its primitive and personalized form in the earliest strands of the Old Testament to its final development in the New. Under the impression that "the wrath of God" in the New Testament must be interpreted as if it had the same meaning as in the Old, some theologians have been driven to formulate a distorted doctrine of the atonement and others to repudiate the idea of the wrath altogether. Dr. Hanson shows that this is a false dilemma, and that there is a true New Testament doctrine of the wrath, profoundly influenced by the revelation of the love of God in Jesus Christ and at certain points essentially related to the Cross. This doctrine he finds most fully expressed in the Book of Revelation.